Key strategic concepts

Six Sigma is one of the most important and popular developments in the quality field. It has saved huge amounts of money and improved the customer experience for a large number of organizations across the world, yet it is applied in an inconsistent and often reductive fashion in many companies. This has led to criticism in the literature and a number of abandoned implementations. This study guide is designed to provide an overview of the key elements, important historical context and current debates in the field of Six Sigma. It aims to give a coherent view of the underlying principles,...

The importance of strategy and why it matters to organizations The key roles of vision, mission, and goals in shaping an organization’s future The four stages of the strategic management process The concept of a SWOT analysis The concepts of corporate and business strategies The central role of ethics in strategy The different stakeholders of an organization

Chapter 4 - Evaluating a company’s resources, capabilities, and competitiveness. In this chapter, we will address the following questions: How well is the company’s present strategy working? What are the company’s resource strengths and weaknesses and its external opportunities and threats? Are the company’s prices and costs competitive? Is the company competitively stronger or weaker than key rivals? What strategic issues and problems merit front-burner managerial attention?

Chapter 8 - Corporate strategy: Diversification and the multibusiness company. After studying this chapter, you should be able to: Understand when and how business diversification can enhance shareholder value, gain an understanding of how related diversification strategies can produce cross-business strategic fit capable of delivering competitive advantage, become aware of the merits and risks of corporate strategies keyed to unrelated diversification,...

Most small to medium-sized businesses struggle with marketing. The marketing function is often treated as a cost center--ad hoc activities that don’t provide measurable results that can be tracked to the bottom line. This e-book defines our Strategic Marketing Process that businesses can use to standardize their daily, monthly and annual revenue-generating activities. It covers more than just “traditional” marketing and ties together all go-to-market business activities: strategic planning, financial planning and measurement, creative development, marketing execution and sales.

Fostering a greater diversity of viewpoints in the executive suite is a
strategic priority in business, and accordingly, cultivating diversity in
each entering class is a key priority for business schools. Students
hailing from a variety of backgrounds and circumstances create a
vibrant learning environment and reflect the makeup of today’s busi-
ness world.
The term “diversity” is a bit cliché in the 21st
century, the traditional
concept of which typically alludes solely to differences in gender or
race.

Chapter 3 - Evaluating a company’s external environment. The goals of this chapter are: Become aware of factors in a company’s broad macro-environment that may have strategic significance, gain command of the basic concepts and analytical tools widely used to diagnose the competitive conditions in a company’s industry, become adept at mapping the market positions of key groups of industry rivals.

Operations management is identified within the organizational chart and its role in the organization is defined. Chapter one presents a concept map and outlines the textbook chapters. The chapters are grouped by the key themes of strategic planning, project management, decision analysis, quality, supply chain management, and e-commerce.

Chapter 3: Evaluating a company's external environment. The goals of this chapter are: Become aware of factors in a company’s broad macro-environment that may have strategic significance, gain command of the basic concepts and analytical tools widely used to diagnose the competitive conditions in a company’s industry, become adept at mapping the market positions of key groups of industry rivals.